Top White House aide defends Trump ad against Democrats

A top White House aide defended an online ad by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign saying Democrats are culpable for murder if they refuse to support the administration’s immigration proposals.

The campaign released the ad as the government shutdown began on Saturday. Touting Trump’s immigration policies ― including construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border ― the video says “Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.”

Funding for the wall and the status of more than 700,000 undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children have been key sticking points in negotiations that stalled and led to the shutdown.

Marc Short, the White House’s legislative affairs director, first tried to distance the White House from the ad, telling Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” that it was produced by an “outside group” and not anyone in the White House. But when Todd pressed him on whether the ad was helpful in terms of negotiating a funding deal with Democrats, Short defended it.

RELATED: Scenes from the night of the 2018 government shutdown

“I think it’s helpful to continue to raise awareness of the crisis we have,” Short said.

Asked whether he found the tone helpful, Short said “the data in the ad shows that there are people coming across our border that pose threats to our country, yes.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) weighed in on the ad on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” saying, “I don’t know if [its] necessarily productive.”

The ad features Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin and says “Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.

Several studies have disputed the suggestion undocumented immigrants bring more crime into the country.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.